Mineral Resources 

^ OF 

\ 

WYOMING 


Published by 

The State Board of Immigration 

Cheyenne, Wyo. 


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CH&YE^NNE- 

WYOMING 


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.VAF 1 3 1909 

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Mineral Resources of Wyoming 

There are few states in the Union that possess mineral re¬ 
sources as vast and varied as those of Wyoming. The late Prof. 
Knight of the State University identified 156 of the varieties of 
mineral noted in Dana’s System of Mineralogy as occurring in Wy¬ 
oming, and this list is constantly being added to as the different 
formations are opened up and understood. 

Gold, silver, copper and lead all have been known for years 
in almost every mountain range in the state, and the work of the 
past few years has demonstrated beyond a doubt that these ores 
exist in commercial quantities. 

Until now the crying need of these resources has been railroad 
transportation, but that need has been supplied by the building 
of the new roads into the central part of the state, and an unprece¬ 
dented activity is now apparent in these camps. The quality and 
quantity of these ores have been assured for years and it, is now 
possible to get them to market on a commercial scale. 

Up-to-date investors are now searching the camps of Wyo¬ 
ming for the mines that meet their requirements, and means and 
brains are now making mines out of these long-neglected prospects, 
and even at this early date the results are flattering. 

There is not another Rocky Mountain state with greater pos¬ 
sibilities than Wyoming, or that offers better opportunities for 
mineral investments; certainly none with so much public domain 
subject to location as mineral land, and, besides the precious met¬ 
als, the wealth of coal, oil and natural gas will some day make Wy¬ 
oming as great a producing and manufacturing state as Pennsyl¬ 
vania is to-day. 

Gold Mining—Gold mines were first worked at South Pass, 
Fremont County, in 1867, since which date the industry has 
amounted to something each year. The annual production has 
fluctuated from $25,000 to $125,000, th^ total being estimated at 
$4,000,000 produced. 

The placer mines th^t were rich enough to be worked with 
limited means were worked out long ago. Large tracts of placer 
gold ground, that can only be worked with great expenditure of 


4 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMINO 


money and the most modern and economical devices, remain. 
These are now owned by large companies who are arranging to 
work some of them. 

The Douglas Creek placers in Albany County are -being 
worked and a number of new plants will be installed as soon as the 
season is open. 

The gold usually occurs in quartz veins, which are found in 
all the mountain districts, the most promising of which are as fol¬ 
lows: South Pass, Atlantic, Copper Mountain and Black Rock in 
Fremont County; Seminoe, Gold Hill and the Sierra Madre Moun¬ 
tains in Carbon County; Jelm, Medicine Bow and Centennial in 
Albany County; Black Plills in Crook County; Shoshone and Ab- 
saroka Mountains in Big Horn County, and the Laramie Hills. 

Silver and Lead—These metals are found in small quantities 
in all the prominent ranges. Galena is the usual ore carrying sil¬ 
ver, but at the Esterbrook mine, in northern Albany County, a 
vein of cerusite or silicious lead carbonate has been found. The 
silver values va,ry from ten to six hundred ounces per ton, and the 
lead from twenty to sixty per cent, in commercial ores. Ship¬ 
ments have been made from camps in Crook, Big Horn, Albany 
and Laramie Counties. 

Copper—During the past few years copper in commercial 
quantities has been found in nearly all of the thirteen counties of 
the state, and development work is being actively pushed. The 
principal ore is usually a chalcopyrite or yellow sulphide of copper, 
associated with the rarer forms. These forms are usually covered 
by a capping of oxidized iron, in which the oxidized forms of cop¬ 
per, usually the blue and green carbonates, are found. The 
Grand Encampment Copper District, in southern Wyoming, is 
the leading producer, and active camps are being established in 
the Laramie Hills, Shoshone Mountains, Owl Mountains, Copper 
Mountain, the Wind River Range and the Big Horn Mountains. 

Coal—Coal mining has been the leading mineral industry in 
the state, and will, in all probability, continue in the front rank 
for a time, though copper is fast gaining upon it. It had its origin 
with the advent of the transcontinental railroad, and has increased 
with the development of the state, until to-day it employs over 
10,000 Avorkmen and has a production of 5,805,272 tons of coal per 
annum. 

Coal-bearing formations underlie a larger proportion of Wy¬ 
oming than of any other'of the Rocky Mountain states. Most of 
the productive area in Wyoming is included within the Plains 
region. More than half of the coal produced in Wyoming is lig- 
nitic in character, a large proportion of the lignite output coming 
from the fields which extend from North Dakota through South- 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


5 


eastern Montana to the northeastern part of Wyoming. Most of 
the bituminous fields are in the more mountainous regions, and 
their areas, like those of the other Rocky Mountain fields, are 
small compared with those of the lignite beds in the northeastern 
part of the State. Among the more important producing areas 
are the Carbon and Hanna fields, in Carbon County, which include 
the operations at Hanna and Carbon; the Rock Springs field, in 
Sweetwater County; the Ham’s Fork field, in Uinta County^ and 
the Almy field, also in Uinta County, the last two counties pro¬ 
ducing nearly 75 per cent, of the State’s entire output. The prin¬ 
cipal lignite production is at Sheridan, in Sheridan County. Most 
of the lignite is black in color, and, having many of the charac¬ 
teristics of bituminous coal, is frequently classed as such by the 
producers. The other fields which have not yet been reached by 
railroads are the Henry’s Fork field, in the southern part of Sweet¬ 
water County; the Wind River field, in Fremont County; the Big 
Horn Basin, in Big Horn County, and the Teton field in the 
northern part of Uinta County. Another field penetrated by the 
Union Pacific system is the Rawlins field, extending from the 
southern part of Fremont County through Northeastern Sweet¬ 
water into Carbon County. The operations here are not of great 
importance. The Sublette field, in the western part of Uinta 
County, crossed by the Oregon Short Line, is also of little im¬ 
portance. 

The kinds of coal vary from a pure lignite to a high grade 
long-flamed bituminous variety. The best grades of coal are low 
in sulphur and ash, and are excellent fuels for locomotives, general 
steam making, domestic purposes and gas production. 

A semi-anthracite was discovered in Johnson.County in 1887. 
Coking coal has been discovered in two or three localities, and 
seventy-four Beehive coke ovens are operated at Cambria, Weston 
County, having an output of over 20,000 tons per annum. All 
coke so far manufactured in this state has been made at Cambria, 
and Wyoming stands eleventh in the coke-producing states. 


A TABLE OF GENERAL INFORMATION RELATING TO WYOMING COAL 


6 


MINEKAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


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MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


7 


The coal fields are so universal that commercial coal is known 
to exist in every county, and in all but one coal mines are worked. 
The area of workable coal land is over 20,000 square miles. The 
coal veins are numerous. It is not an uncommon thing to find 
six or eight workable veins in a single field. In thickness the 
seams vary from a few inches to 75 feet. The coal mines operated 
at present have working veins varying from four to forty feet. 
The coal lands are owned, to a large extent, by the government, 
but are subject to location. Already three great railroads have 
penetrated these fields, but the-industry has only started, and by 
the close of another quarter of a century Wyoming will be produc¬ 
ing not less than 10,000,000 tons of coal per annum. 

Wyoming stands twelfth in the list of coal-producing states, 
and while the amount produced in other states has remained sta¬ 
tionary in the past two years, the amount produced in Wyoming 
has increased twenty per cent. 

Statement of Coal Output for Year ending September 30, 1906, 

District No. 1. 


OWNER 

Address 

Mine 

Tons 

Diamond Coal & Coke Co. 

Diamondville .... 

No. 1 

168,694 

Diamond Coal & Coke Co. 

Oakley .. 

No. 2 

175,444 

Din.mondvillft Coal J(r. Coke Co. 

Glencoe . 

No. 4 

230,90? 

TCemmerer Coal Co. 

Frontier. 

No. 1 

283,134 

TCemmerer Coal Co. 

Frontier. 

No. 3 

93,639 

Central Coal Coke Co. 

Sweetwater. 

No. 1 

130,399 

Central Coal & Coke Co. 

Rock Springs .... 

No. 2 

181,500 

Union Rneifie Coal Co . 

Hanna . 

No. 1 

336,025 

Union Ra.eifie Coal Co . 

Hanna . 

No. 2 

70,668 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Hanna . 

No. 3 

30,530 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Cumberland. 

No. 1 

535,474 

Tlninn (Toa.l (To . 

Cumberland. 

No. 2 

416,677 

Upion Pa.eifie Coal Co . 

Cumberland. 

No. 3 

63,939 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Rock Springs .... 

No. 1 

419,940 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Rock Springs .... 

No. 7 

346,215 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Rock Springs .... 

No. 8 

339,224 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Rock Springs .... 

No. 9 

331,158 

Union Pacific Coal Co. 

Rock Springs .... 

No. 10 

353,389 

Total.;. . 



4,506,957 











































8 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


District No. 2. 


OWNER 


Address 


Mine 


Tons 


Sheridan Coal Co. 

Cambria Fuel Co. 

Carney Coal Co. 

Cole Creek Coal Co. 

Stilwell Coal Co. 

Wyoming Coal Mining Co. 

Glenrock Coal Co. 

Mined at Thermopolis, Inez, Douglas, Cas¬ 
per, Sheridan, Lander and other places 
not reported to Inspector, estimated... 


Sheridan . 

Cambria. 

Carneyville . . . . 
Big Muddy .... 

Aladdin . 

Monarch. 

Glenrock . 


Nos. 1, 2 & 4 
Nos. 1, 2 & 3 
No. 1 
No. 1 
No. 1 
No. 1 

Nos. 1 & 2 


563,280 

409,935 

147,128 

15,718 

13,870 

76,268 

42,116 


30,000 


Total 


1,298,315 


TOTAL PRODUCTION, 1906 


5,805,272 


(From reports of Coal Mine Inspectors, 1906.) 

Natural Gas—Accompanying the oil fields are numerous nat¬ 
ural gas horizons. The gas pressure in the oil wells near Lander 
is very great and gas escapes are found at or near most of the oil 
springs. At Brenning Basin, near Douglas, in Converse County, 
a flow of gas has been struck in several wells, at a depth of 500 feet, 
and the gas has been piped and used for fuel and light in the vicin¬ 
ity, a pressure of 300 pounds per square inch having been note'd. 
fn the eastern part of Fremont County there are two natural gas 
escapes that are wonders. Some prospectors have dug shallow 
shafts and curbed them up with logs; the shafts are partially filled 
with water and the gas escapes with such violence as to cause the 
water in them to boil as though in a cauldron. There are numer¬ 
ous anticlinals in the state that are not associated with the oil dis¬ 
tricts, where large flows of gas may be looked for. 

Bituminous Shale—In the Green River Valley and at Rock 
Springs there are great bands of rich bituminous shale, that equals 
the shales of Scotland, where an army of men are employed and 
the production is sold for millions of dollars per annum. The 
shales are burned in a retort, and the products saved are gas, oil, 
tar and ammonium sulphate. The richest of these shales assay 
45 per cent, volatile matter. 

Volcanic Ash—In several localities in Wyoming volcanic ash 
has been found. In Albany County, near Laramie, there is a bed 
four feet in depth. It is almost white and is so fine that the 
greater portion of it will pass through a 100-mesh sieve. Samples 


























MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING ' 9 

of equal purity have been examined from Carbon and Sweetwater 
Counties. This material is used for scouring purposes. It is the 
b^se of sapolio, and is also used in geyserite soap. 

Graphite—Veins of graphite are known at French Creek, 
Plumbago Canon and Halleck Canon, in Albany County, and in 
the Indian Grove Mountains in Carbon County. The veins are 
large and easily accessible. Analyses of samples from the various 
localities show the carbon contents to vary from 40 to 60 per cent. 
So* far as known, the ore is of the amorphous variety and would 
make good fire-proof paint, stove polish or graphite crucibles. 

Asphalttim—Along the north side of the Rattlesnake Moun¬ 
tains there are several deposits of asphaltum that occur below the 
oil springs. There is also another bed on the Shoshone Reserva¬ 
tion, east of Fort Washakie. This has been formed about an oil 
spring and contains several thousand tons. The quality is excel¬ 
lent, quite free from foreign matter, and it would make a splendid 
paving material. 

Manganese Ores—Ores that fall under this class have been 
found in Albany, Crook, Sweetwater, Big Horn, Uinta and Fre¬ 
mont Counties. The development is only slight, since the dis¬ 
coveries have been too far from railroads to warrant shipments. 
The ores are of good grade and are found in good sized veins. Sam¬ 
ples from different localities vary from 40 to 55 per cent, man¬ 
ganese. 

Epsom Salts—Epsom salts can be found in small quantities 
throughout the arid region, but in Wyoming it is found in large 
beds. Near Rock Creek there is a depression containing about 
ninety acres that is covered with this salt. The exact depth is 
not known. In this immediate vicinity there are several other 
beds, the total area of the Epsom Salt Lakes being given at 160 
acres. The salt is as pure as the commercial product that sells 
in our drug stores for ten cents per ounce. These deposits are 
near the railroad, and, if properly handled, should enable a com¬ 
pany to control the Epsom salt trade of America. 

Btiildmg Stone—Building stones of innumerable varieties are 
common throughout the state. The sandstone quarries at Raw¬ 
lins, Carbon County, have a large output, which is shipped to 
Colorado, Utah and Nebraska. The capitol and federal buildings 
at Cheyenne, and the State penitentiary are built of this stone. 
In Laramie County the Iron Mountain quarries furnish a beautiful 
white sandstone which is much in favor and has been used for the 
Stock Growers Bank building, several business blocks and the new 
Roman Catholic Cathedral at Cheyenne. Granite, limestone, 


10 I MINERAL resource's OF WYOMING 

quartzites, serpentine marble and marble onyx are included in the 
varieties. 

Gypsum—This mineral is very common and is found in all 
varieties. Beds varying from 20 to 100 feet in thickness are ex¬ 
posed along the mountain ranges. The mineral is very pure, and 
can be utilized for purposes where gypsum is required. 

There is an opportunity for small gypsum plaster mills in 
nearly every part of the state, and with a cheap local production, 
the uses of this plaster would rapidly multiply, as it is of a very 
superior quality and suitable for exterior and interior uses. 

Plaster of Paris—The Rocky Mountain Plaster Company is 
operating a plaster mill at Red Buttes. There is room and mate¬ 
rial in sight to supply a thousand mills; in fact, Wyoming could 
furnish the world with plaster of paris for a thousand years, and 
then not consider the beds exhausted. 

Natural Plaster—In a few localities deposits of what has been 
called a natural plaster have been found. The mineral occurs in 
superficial deposits, varying from two to six feet in depth. It is 
pulverulent and has a light gray color. W'hen a portion of the 
water has been driven off, it sets and forms a very hard cement. 

Clays—Pressed and common brick are manufactured in the 
state, but at present there are no other clay industries. The clay 
beds are in abundance and are found in every county in the state. 
Common brick clay, fire clay, tile and terra cotta clay and potters' 
clay are found in thick beds in the sedimentary rocks, and not in 
superficial deposits, as they are usually seen in the northern and 
eastern states. 

Bentonite, or “soap clay," is found in many parts of the state, 
and shipments are made from the beds at Rock Creek, Albany 
County, and Newcastle, Weston County, a number of cars being 
shipped every year from each place. This clay is used as an adul¬ 
terant, as a filler in paper making and for medical purposes, being 
worked up and sold under the name of “Antiphlogistine." 

By analysis this clay contains silica, alumina, iron, magnesia, 
sulphur and water, samples having shown over 89 per cent, of sil¬ 
ica and alumina, 1 per cent, of iron, 3 per cent, of magnesia, 
per cent, lime and sulphur and 6 per cent, water. Some of these 
deposits have no iron, magnesia or sulphur. One of them has 3 
per cent, iron and 3 per cent, magnesia. 

Nearly every small town has brick yards in the immediate 
vicinity, as.the clays are universal, and some remarkably fine com¬ 
mercial brick are made. The clay also makes very fine tiling for 
floors, fireplaces and all kinds of pottery and piping. 

Tin—Black oxide of tin has been known in veins and as 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


11 


stream tin in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills for many 
years. Tons of stream tin have been mined and sold. The veins 
are slightly developed. There are good veins of tin of average 
richness, and before many years the tin mines of Dakota and Wy¬ 
oming will be worked. Wyoming gained a medal at the World's 
Fair for her exhibit of stream tin. 

Salt—Near Cambria, Weston County, a plant has been built 
to manufacture salt from Salt Springs, the water of which contains 
22 per cent, salt, and other springs equally fine are noted in John¬ 
son and Uinta Counties. In the latter place salt is produced for 
local consumption. 

Quartz—The Laramie Mountains abound in large veins of 
pure quartz. When ground, it is valuable for glass making. 

Glass Sand—There are numerous places in the state where 
glass sand is found. The beds near Laramie have been worked 
and proven. 

Mica—Muscovite mica, the mica of commerce, is very plen¬ 
tiful in Wyoming, but there are only a few localities where it has 
been found in “book" of sufficient size to warrant mining. In 
Whalen Canon, some eight or ten miles from Hartville, and at 
Grand Encampment, there are numerous large veins of feldspar 
containing first-class mica. The former has been worked to some 
extent and a small shipment made. Sheets squaring six inches 
have been taken out near the surface. It is first quality in every 
^respect. 

Feldspar—Orthoclase feldspar occurs in large veins in Whalen 
Canon. It is free from detrimental minerals and is suitable for 
all purposes where orthoclase could be used. 

Sulphur—Extensive deposits of native sulphur are known in 
Uinta County. The crude brimstone assays from 40 to 70 per 
cent, of sulphur. There are also very extensive deposits above 
Cody, on the Shoshone River, and on Sunlight Creek, north of 
Cody. Recently deposits have been opened in the vicinity of 
Thermopolis, in northern Fremont County, and still others are 
reported in the Owl Creek Mountains, recently opened for entry. 

Bismuth—Bismuth ore of rare purity has been mined at 
Jelm Mountain, and shipped to the east for reduction. The ore 
is a mixture of carbonates and metallic bismuth, and assays from 
50 to 65 per cent. 

Sulphate of Aluminum—This mineral, which is usually called 
native alum, occurs in extensive deposits in Sweetwater and Big 
Horn Counties. It is the principal salt used in the manufacture of 


12 


minf:ral resources of Wyoming 


commercial alums, and for this purpose it should be used in con¬ 
nection with the natural soda. 

Fibrous Talc—A very large vein of fibrous talc exists in the 
Laramie Hills west of Wheatland, and there are veins of similar 
material of varying size and qualities in the Casper Mountains, 
Wind River Ranges and many of the smaller ranges throughout 
the state. This material is used for many of the rougher purposes 
of fireproof materials, and, with the improvement in transporta¬ 
tion conditions, these Wyoming deposits will be worked. 

Asbestos—On Casper Mountain and on Smith Creek, in Na¬ 
trona County, are found deposits of a very fine quality of asbestos, 
and it is now being opened up and preparations made to put this 
valuable mineral on the market. This is the variety known as 
‘'Chrysotile,” and is of a grade similar to that of the Canadian 
asbestos, which supplies the general trade at present, but will 
have a rival in the Wyoming product. The fiber is of good color, 
shows a length up to four inches and works up very soft and is 
easily spun. The full extent of the deposits is not yet known, 
but from surface indications is stated to be considerable. The 
varieties of asbestos known as crysolite, amphibole, fibrous 
talc and other impure forms also occur in various parts of the 
state, and some of them promise to be used in the future. 

Decomposed Granite—Some nine years ago the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company commenced loading decomposed granite from 
a point near Sherman and hauling it out as ballast. It was found 
to be far superior to any other stone for this purpose, but it was;- 
also, to some extent, sold for road building in cities, a use to which* 
it is well adapted. 

Natural Pigments—Soft iron ores have been used for red 
paint for years. For many years paint mills were operated at 
Rawlins. The Brooklyn bridge was originally painted with this 
paint. More recently the ore has been shipped to other states to 
be grouild. The soft hematite ores are in large bodies and make 
a first-class paint. Ochres of various shades are known, but the 
beds have not been worked. Graphite and the low grade asbestos 
that would make an excellent fire-proof paint are found in large 
bodies. 

Semi-Precious Stones—The semi-precious stones are in abun¬ 
dance. Quartz crystals, agates, jaspers, moss-agates, petrified 
wood, garnets and beryls are the important ones. The moss- 
agates are the best found in the world. Thus far no precious 
stones have been reported. 

Natural Soda—Extensive deposits of natural soda are known 


MINERAL RESOURqES OF WYOMING 13 

in Carbon, Natrona and Albany Counties. Numerous springs 
contain considerable soda, and at Green River a well yields a sat¬ 
urated solution of sodium carbonate, which is shipped by the car 
load. The deposits vary in size from a few to one hundred acres, 
and the soda ranges from a few inches to sixteen feet, and possibly 
more. These deposits are chiefly sodium sulphate, but there are 
carbonates and bi-carbonates in some localities. Along the 
Sweetwater River there are deposits that contain 60 per cent, car¬ 
bonate of soda. The sulphate, when dried and calcined, has been 
sold in the east for glass making, and was used in the Laramie 
glass factory. With proper machinery, these great beds of soda 
can be utilized and would bring in a large revenue. 

The most valuable natural soda discovered in Wyoming is 
what is known as sodium carbonate, or the sal soda of commerce, 

I and can be derived in inexhaustible quantities from wells, avera- 

} ging a depth of two hundred feet, at Green River, the county seat 

of Sweetwater County, and on the line of the Union Pacific rail¬ 
road. Samples of water taken from numerous wells at Green 
River yield an analysis of 20 per cent, of sal soda crystals. 

Mineral Springs—Wyoming is prominent for her mineral 
springs. If we take into our estimate the Yellowstone Park, this 
alone surpasses the rest of the world in the number and magnifi¬ 
cence of its waters. The mineral springs include hot, cold, sul¬ 
phur, iron and the alkaline earths, and genuine mud springs. No¬ 
table ones, but b}^ no means the most important, 'are at Death 
Lake, where they number more than four hundred. 

A group of some fifty famous hot springs in the Platte Valley ‘ 
at Saratoga, in Carbon County, have a temperature of 130° F., 
have been extensively improved and have been used for twenty 
years to the great benefit of the invalid visitor. These springs are 
reached by the new Saratoga and Encampment R. R. from AVal- 
cott, on the Union Pacific R. R. 

At Thermopolis, in the Big Horn Basin, the hot springs have 
an analysis nearly identical with the waters at the Hot Springs, 
Arkansas. These are protected by state law, and are under the 
control of the Board of Charities and Reform. The Burlington 
Route is completed to Worland and is rapidly extending towards 
Thermopolis at the present time. 

The DeMaris Hot Springs at Cody, Big Horn County, are 
noted for their curative powers and are popular with the hunting 
parties and tourist parties to the Yellowstone Park via the Cody 
Gateway of the Burlington Route. 

A famous hot spring is located two miles west of Fort Wash¬ 
akie, on the Shoshone Reservation. This spring is 320 feet long 
by 250 feet broad, with an average temperature of 149° F. The 
minerals held in solution are medicinal. It is held in great repute 


14 MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 

by both whites and Indians as curative of rheumatism~and neu¬ 
ralgia. 

Another equally large, of sulphur, having a temperature of 
97° F., exists near Lander, Fremont County, and is much sought 
by people outside of the state suffering with stomach, kidney, 
liver and bowel disorders. The completion of the Chicago and 
Northwestern R. R. into Lander has made these springs very con¬ 
venient of access and their popularity is constantly growing. 

In Beaver Canon, north of Sheep Mountain, in Carbon Coun¬ 
ty, a sulphur spring, with a temperature of 90° F., is found, and 
near by are cold springs which contain soda in solution, sulphur, 
iron, sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid; still another in 
the Platte Canon, at the east end of Seminoe Mountains in Carbon 
County, has a temperature of 98° F. 

A spring with a temperature of 108° F. is located ten miles 
below old Fort Laramie; another at the head of West Horse Creek, 
whose temperature is 104° F. 

There are many other springs scattered throughout the state, 
whose analysis suggests that they possess valuable medicinal 
qualities, but, owing to the limited number of people, lack of 
transportation and consequently small demand for mineral water, 
it has been impossible to develop many of them. 

Limestone—The unprecedented demand for a pure limestone, 
to be used in the beet sugar factories in Colorado, has developed 
a trade at Laramie, Albany County, and Hartville, Laramie Coun- 
^ ty, and some thousands of tons are shipped annually from these 
quarries. The limestone is very pure, containing 98 per cent, cal¬ 
cium carbonate, with very little silica, or injurious materials. This 
same stone exists in many other parts of the state, and factories 
may be assured of a constant supply in almost any locality where 
the beets can be grown. 

Iron—Second to those of no state in the Union are the de¬ 
posits of iron ore. Prospecting along this line has not been carried 
on to any extent, and only iron districts reasonably near the rail¬ 
road have received any attention. The greatest deposits are red 
hematite, quite free from sulphur and phosphorus, and low in sil¬ 
ica. The only districts where development or mining has been 
carried on are Hartville, Rawlins and Seminoe. In these camps 
are large deposits of soft ore, which makes an excellent pigment. 
The hard ores are found beneath the surface in bodies varying 
from ten to one hundred feet in thickness. Rawlins and Hartville 
or Guernsey have furnished thousands of tons of ore to be used by 
the Salt Lake and Denver smelters as a flux for lead and copper 
smelting, and two railroads have been built to the Hartville mines. 
Besides the hematite, there are great deposits of magnetite in the 
Laramie Mountains, and beds of clay ironstone in the cretaceous 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


15 


rocks in several localities. Hematite ore has been found in Crook, 
Uinta, Johnson, Fremont, Big Horn, Albany and Sheridan Coun¬ 
ties. The ores examined are of exceptional purity. 

Iron Mines at Guernsey—The Hartville iron range in Laramie 
County, now known throughout the country as containing the 
finest and most extensive deposits of Bessemer steel ores in the 
world, has become the scene of vast operations. Two railroads, 
the Burlington and the Colorado and Wyoming, have been built 
into these fields. The mines now being worked are owned by the 
Wyoming Railway and Iron Company and held under lease by the 
Colorado Fuel and Iron (.'ompany. This company has a capital 
of $25,000,000, and is rapidly enlarging its plant at Pueblo, Colo., 
making it one of the largest in the country. The mines are located 
at Sunrise, in the center of the iron belt, where a town has been 
built, and the work is progressing on an extensive scale. 

The ore is mined in great open cuts, where the ore is blasted 
down from the sides and loaded into the cars by steam shovels, 
three of yhich are in active use daily, the cars being run into the 
cuts on side tracks from the main railroad and the ore shipped di¬ 
rect from the cuts with as little handling as possible. In this 
manner over 600,000 gross tons of ore have been mined, which, at 
a mine value of $C.50 per ton, gives $900,000 worth of crude iron 
ore, A three-compartment shaft, 350 feet deep, has been sunk, 
and three lev'els run to develop the underlying beds of iron ore 
hitherto neglected. This department will greatly increase the 
output of the mines and be a permanent part of the work. 

The known area of the iron belt, which begins at Guernsey 
on the south, and runs to the head of Whalen Canon, in a north¬ 
easterly direction, ten miles, with an average width of three miles, 
covers thirty square miles. The greatness of the deposit is shown 
by the fact that, although the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company 
has a lease of seventy-two patented claims, the present enormous 
output is obtained by working only two mines. 

The ores are exceptionally pure and of the highest grade 
known, showing from 65 to 68 per cent, metallic iron, from 2\ to 
5 per cent, silica, and are practically free from sulphur and phos¬ 
phorus. 

Rawlins Hematite—Two 'miles north of Rawlins, Carbon 
County, there is a large deposit of red hematite ore, occurring in 
a metamorphosed sandstone capped with limestone. The ore is 
remarkably pure, and in this vicinity there are several other lo¬ 
cations which contain similar deposits. 

Seminoe Iron Deposits—One of the largest deposits of iron 
in Wyoming occurs in the Seminoe Mountains, at the foot of Brad¬ 
ley’s Peak, Carbon County. Bradley’s Peak has been called a 


16 


MINERAL RES0URCP:S OF WYOMING 


mountain of iron ore, containing not less than 1,500,000 tons, and 
when development is begun here this locality will furnish an im¬ 
portant part of the iron ore to be smelted in Wyoming, as it is es¬ 
timated this ore can be mined and loaded in the cars for fifteen 
eents per ton. 


GOLD DISTRICTS. 

The South Pass Gold District, Fremont County. 

This district is situated in the south central part of Fremont 
County, Wyoming, near the southern end of the Wind River range 
of mountains. 

The extension of the new line of the Burlington road to be 
built up the Big Horn River from Frannie to Lander, and that of 
the Chicago and Northwestern now built from Casper to Lander, 
has brought this district within thirty-five miles of a railroad, and 
it is more than possible that branches will be run to the mines and 
greatly facilitate the operation of properties in this section. 

Gold was discovered in this region in 1842, and from that time 
until 1869 efforts were made to work the rich placers known to 
exist there, when the great rush to South Pass occurred in the lat¬ 
ter year, and the placers rich enough to pay when worked on a 
limited crude scale were promptly worked out and the miners 
sought other opportunities in the then new fields of Colorado and 
Montana. 

Geology—The district may be said to consist of an island of 
metamorphic schists of the Algonkian period lying upon the gran¬ 
ites of the Archean and with several intrusions of granite and dyke 
rocks in the schists at different localities. The granites of this 
section of the Wind River Range are usually the common red feld- 
sitic granite, and here show an occasional gray granite island or 
band, usually of limited extent. 

The schists show for a distance of about thirty miles long, 
from ten to twelve wide, the longer axis bearing northeasterly and 
southwesterly, in the same general direction as the strike of the 
schists, and with a general dip to the north, varying from 45 de¬ 
grees to the perpendicular. Around these schists are the granites 
on the northwest and the succeeding sedimentary formations on 
the northeast and the tertiary formations on the southerly sides. 

Nearly all the rocks of this region, but especially the above 
mentioned schists, show strong evidence of alteration and change, 
in many instances giving an appearance entirely foreign to the 
character of rock, but an examination with an ordinary field lens 
is often sufficient to determine the true character at once. This 
altering material is usually silica, and where the rocks are weath¬ 
ered as on an exposed outcrop, a hard quartzose character is noted. 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


17 


and these are frequently called “dykes/’ but are simply altered 
schists and frequently carry gold values. Dykes occur in these 
schists, especially at the old Miner’s Delight mine at Peabody 
Hill, where diorite and diabase dykes are noted; at the Mary Ellen 
Hill, near Atlantic; at the Carissa at South Pass, and along the 
northwesterly edge of the schist in the vicinity of the Little Joe, 
and at Gold Creek. 

At the Miner’s Delight dykes of porph 3 ^ritic material are no¬ 
ted, and these extend to the “Rustler belt,” north of Atlantic City, 
where the Mormon Crevice and Poiree estate properties have pro¬ 
duced very rich ore. 

The Carissa Mine at South Pass—This property, located in 
1867, has been a phenomenal producer for many years, and de¬ 
velopment work is being carried on at the present time. The de¬ 
velopment consists of some 2,300 feet of drifting, etc., with a 
shaft 384 feet deep; following the dip to the vein, equipped with 
hoist and necessary appliances for handling the ore. The Carissa 
ore occurs in quartz lenses, lying in the schist, having the same dip 
and strike as the schist, and these lenses occur at irregular inter¬ 
vals. 

Associated with the quartz lenses are bodies of mineralized 
schist, carrying pay values in gold, and lying between or near the 
lenses have been found schist ores of very high grade, but with the , 
usual intervals of lower grade material in the same ore. 

Until recently the development of these ores has been carried 
on on the high grade lenses only and the low grade ores practically 
ignored, owing to lack of facilities for treating them profitably, but 
during the past year a cross-cut has been run west from the lower 
or 400 level and the occurrence condition of these low grade ores 
determined. This cross-cut is 180 feet long and cut through a 
series of quartz lenses and schist leads, which were found to vary 
in value from a trace to $50 per ton gold, but the free condition 
remained unchanged as in the other parts of the mine. Tests on 
this work showed an average mill value of SO per ton the wltole 
length of 180 feet. ' 

This is the most important work accomplished in the district 
for many ^mars, as it demonstrates the existence of great bodies 
of low grade ore capable of treatment on a large scale and indicates 
the course to be pursued in the other mines of the district. 

In the upper portion of the Carissa workings the usual oxid¬ 
ized ores were found, and these were very rich, as shown by the 
early history of the mine. As development proceeded the oxidized 
ores passed*^out and the sulphide forms came in, being mostly ar¬ 
senical pyrites, but experience in milling these ores has shown the 
free gold character of the ore still pertains, and on the lower level 
from 60 per cent, to 90 per cent, of the gold values may be saved 


18 


MINERAL RESOURCES C)F AVYOMING 


on the plates and ore is frequently met with that shows free gold 
associated with the pyrites, both in the quartz and adjacent 
schists. The ore is being treated in a ten-stamp mill, with amal¬ 
gamating plates and concentrating tables. 

The Dexter Works at Atlantic—Atlantic City is the working 
headquarters of the Dexter Mining and Development Company 
of Rochester, N. Y. They have recently added to their original 
large holdings and are now operating the Tabor Grand, the Bryan, 
the Dexter Tunnel and Garfield, besides a number of smaller works. 

' This company holds placer ground on Rock Creek, consisting 
of 1,600 acres of patented placer ground, and controls the whole 
bed of Rock Creek to its junction with the Sweetwater River, 
about 3,000 acres of placer claims held by location in the usual 
manner. The Dexter Company has made extensive tests in the 
bed of this creek by hydraulic elevators and other mechanical 
means for handling the gravel, and will put in dredges as the result 
of these experiments. The water for this work is secured from 
Christina Lake and Rock Creek by a system of about twenty-five 
miles of ditches, flumes, etc. An interesting feature of these ex¬ 
periments is the high assays obtained from the black sand after 
the placer gold has been taken out, the remaining sand assaying 
from $400 to $800 per ton. 

A new mill has been erected by the Dexter Company at a 
point on Rock Creek just below Atlantic to treat both their own 
and custom ores, extensive experiments having been made during 
the. past year to determine the best method of treatment. This 
mill, which started in the spring of this year, is of 150-ton capacity, 
using twenty 1,050-pound stamps, with amalgamating plates and 
having Complete cyanide department for saving values other than 
free gold. 

The Miner’s Delight, which was one of the famous mines of 
the west many years ago, is being opened up again after lying idle 
for years, and a complete plant of machinery is being installed to 
push deep work and put the mine again in the producer class. 

The vein is a fissure from four to six feet wide, associated with 
the coarse crystalline porphyry noted above and contained very 
rich gold values, but was not developed over 250 feet in depth, as 
far as can now be ascertained. 

Lewiston—At this camp, which was opened up in 1879, when 
the famous Burr mine was discovered, development has been slow 
for the past few years, but this season prospecting is again active, 
and a number of lenses of quartz have been found on Strawberry 
Gulch, which show the characteristic free gold condition of the 
Burr and other famous properties. 

Production—The amount of gold produced from twenty- 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


19 


eight properties in this district since its discovery is $3,728,000. 
The gold taken from the great placers in the early days of the dis¬ 
trict, before anyone thought of statistics, can only be estimated 
and is placed at from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. In this locality 
at the present time there are fifteen properties working, employing 
one hundred men. 

There are fifty meritorious properties in the South Pass Dis¬ 
trict tlnat would pay handsOiiiely on the development expenditure, 
and it is certain that this district will be heard from as a gold pro¬ 
ducer in the next few years. 

Other Gold Camps. 

The other gold producing districts in the state are scattered. 

At Centennial, Gold Hill and Jelm Mountain, in Albany Coun¬ 
ty, there are a number of properties working for gold alone. 

Returns of gold working properties are received from the 
Sunlight mines, in Big Horn County; from Kirwin, on the liead of 
Wood River, and the South Fork of the Shoshone River, in the 
same county. 

Lode mining has been active in eastern Crook County, near 
Welcome, where the formations are fine grained schists, granites, 
etc., with some intrusions of trachite and allied rocks, overlaid 
near the rim of the uplift with limestone and succeeding sediment¬ 
ary rocks. 

Copper Mountain is the low range lying between Shoshoni 
and Thermopolis on the eastern side of the Big Horn River in 
Fremont County, and is being actively opened up as a gold and 
copper producer. Free gold is found in many of the properties, 
notably at the Williams-Luman Mine at Depass, at. the eastern 
end of the district; the Hale Mine near Birdseye, Gilt Edge, Boy- 
sen and others; a mill is being built at Hale’s Mine and the tunnel 
at the Williams-Luman Mine will open up the ore at a greater 
depth than has yet been reached'in the district. The formation 
is generally of granite with ledges of schist carrying the ore, and 
with veins and bodies of quartz heavily mineralized. Much of 
th^ ore is high grade. 

Willow Creek is a new district being, opened up west of Ther¬ 
mopolis that has shown up some fine ores but the details have not 
yet been given out. Both gold and copper are found in these ores. 

During the past year a number of gold finds liave been made 
in the granite hills that lie north of the Sweetwater River, east of 
Rongis, in Fremont County, and some high grade free gold ores 
returned. The formation is granite with huge ledges of miner¬ 
alized schist with some quartz associated with the minerals con¬ 
tained. This is an entirely new district and is easy of access from 
central Wyoming points. 


20 MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMINCJ 

SOME OF THE PLACERS. 

Douglas Creek, in Albany County, is one of the principal 
streams of the Medicine Bow Mountains, and has been noted for 
the placer gold found in it since the first history of mining in that 
section. Gold was first found here in Moore’s Gulch, one of the 
tributaries of Douglas Creek,^in 1868, and for many years every 
gulch in this district was worked by primitive methods with profit. 
Platinum is found in the placer sands here and recently remark¬ 
ably high values have been found in the '‘black sands” of these 
creeks through experiments conducted under the United States 
Geological vSurvey. 

Recently these placers have all been attracting the attention 
of mining men and a complete mechanical plant has been in¬ 
stalled on the holdings of the Douglas Consolidated Placer Mining 
Co., to work these gravels b}^ mechanical means under the imme¬ 
diate charge of experienced hydraulic engineers, and the results of 
this plant are being watched very closely by the whole district. 

Other placers on Douglas Creek that have shown high values 
are the Home placers; the Albany placers, which are to be opened 
and worked by the American Gold Placer Mining Co.; the Spring 
Creek and Lake Creek placers and a dozen smaller properties which 
have production records and were only worked on a small and 
primitive scale. 

In the southern part of Carbon County, placers are worked 
on Snake River, and in Crook County the placers of the old Nigger 
Hill section are worked at intervals. 

Recently a number of placer finds have been made in the 
sands of Wind River near Shoshoni, in Fremont County, and some 
very high values have been obtained. 

A number of placer works are scattered along the waters of 
the streams in the Wind River and Owl Mountains in Fremont 
and Big Horn Counties, Gros Ventre in Uinta County, and in the 
Big Horn Mountains west of Sheridan some properties have been 
worked for gold in the cement deposits on Bald Mountain. 

Small placers are well known in Carbon, Albany, Big Horn 
and Fremont Counties, and thousands of dollars have been taken 
out in the past. 


COPPER DISTRICTS. 

Grand Encampment District. 

The district popularly known as the "Grand Encampment” 
country lies in the southern part of Carbon County and the south¬ 
western corner of Albany County, south of the main line of the 
Union Pacific railroad. 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


21 


Mining has been carried on in this region from the earliest 
known period of the state’s settlement, but the first permanent 
work was in 1872 in the Kurtz-Chatterton property on Copper 
Creek, west of where Encampment now stands. It was not until 
1897-8 that the district became prominent by reason of some rich 
gold ores found in Purgatory Gulch, a small tributary of the South 
Fork of the Grand Encampment River, and the town of Grand 
Encampment was started. 

The discovery of the Ferris-Haggarty copper mine on the 
North Fork of Battle Creek followed in the winter of 1898, and at¬ 
tention was then turned to copper, with the result that the region 
is being thoroughly exploited and is becoming a permanent copper 
producer. 

The district is somewhat irregular in shape. The tract em¬ 
braced in the known mineralized country extends along the Wyo- 
ming-Colorado line, easterly and westerly, for a distance of about 
eighty miles, and northerly and southerly for a distance of from 
fifteen miles at Encampment to forty miles at Elk Mountain, near 
Saratoga, comprising about 2,000 square miles of mountain and 
valley. 

The North Platte River, which rises in Colorado, in this local¬ 
ity flows northwesterly and divides the district into two distinct 
halves, with a valley some fifteen miles wide lying between and' 
watered by numerous tributary streams on either side. Parallel 
with the river are mountain ranges on either side, that on the east 
being known as the Medicine Bow Range, and with this range a 
series of approximately parallel or connected smaller ranges, such 
as Elk, Coad and Wood Mountains. 

On the west is the Sierra Madre Range, composed of a number 
of similar ranges, known by various local names, and these form 
part of the great Continental Divide. 

Geology—The Sierra Madre Mountains consist of an irregular 
core of granite, with spialler islands and spurs of the same material 
showing both in and through the associated metamorphic forma¬ 
tions. The granite is usually of a reddish feldsitic variety, in many 
instances much altered, and showing little quartz or mica, but in 
others showing a predominance of quartz, inclining to the -gray 
granites of Colorado, and frequently showing strong evidences of 
metamorphism, especially in the outcrops, and which is usually 
limited in extent. 

The metamorphic formations consist principally of Algon- 
kian schists, usually lying on the granites and having a varying 
dip and trend or direction in different parts of the district. These 
schists are of a number of varieties, some of which are local or lim¬ 
ited in extent, the usual schist being a fine grained black mica 
schist, and a fine hornblende and tourmaline schist in bands vary- 


22 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


ing from a few feet to several hundred feet in width. Associated 
with these varieties have been noted muscovite or white mica 
schists, and gneiss, cerisite schist, garnet schist on Upper Cow 
Creek, chlorite schist and amphibolite schist in various localities. 

The dyke rocks noted are mainly diorites, some diabase and 
allied dark colored dyke rocks. These dykes vary in size from a 
thin band a few inches thick to a huge sheet of .several hundred 
feet in thickness, and generatlly lie conformably with the adjacent 
schist, having th'e same trend or direction and the same dip, but 
instances are noted, as on Upper Cow Creek and near the Syndi¬ 
cate on Savery Creek, where the dykes cut across the formation 
at a varying angle. These dykes are also noted at many places 
in the granite near the New Rambler on Douglas Creek and near 
Encampment and Battle. 

Associated with the schists and diorites are ledges or bands 
of quartzite, which lie conformably with the including schists, as 
far as now known, as at the Ferris-Haggarty mine and at Bridger 
Peak, and are usually of considerable extent. 

In many instances the foregoing rocks (schists, dyke rocks 
and quartzites) often show an extensive and sometimes a complete 
metamorphism and change from tlieir original condition and com¬ 
position, leaving only the structure as a means of identification, 
the composing minerals being replaced by silica and lime, as the 
schists near the Ferris-Haggarty are largely replaced by silica and 
by lime on Jack Creek and at the Mohawk, on the North Fork of 
the Grand Encampment River. 

The Snowy Range, in the Medicine Bow Mountains, is dis¬ 
tinct in formation from the adjacent country, and consists of tra- 
chite and quartzites, with an occasional dyke of porphyry. 

On either side of the Medicine Bow Range the carboniferous 
limestones are noted, with the succeeding sedimentary formation 
dipping away from the main range until covered by the wash of 
the valley. 

Ore Deposits and Ores—In a district as little developed as the 
Grand Encampment country it is evident that the precise ore con¬ 
ditions may not be fully understood until greater depths have 
been reached and some of each class of ores and ore deposits fully 
exploited. At present these are understood to consist of two 
classes, viz., ores found in the hard, unchanged formation, the 
diorites and unaltered schists, associated with a vein quartz, as at 
the Blakeslee and Verde properties, south of Battle, as distin¬ 
guished from the ores found as a contact deposit between two dif¬ 
ferent formations, as the Ferris-Haggarty, Doane-Rambler mines, 
and a fissure deposit, as the New Rambler, on Douglas Creek, in 
a gray granite. The former may be termed original ores, and the 
latter secondary ores, or ores of replacement. 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF AVYOMING 


23 


In the first case sulphide of copper is found in the outcrops, 
and with but little change beyond the surface oxidizing of the spec¬ 
imen and staining the adjacent rock Avith iron oxides and copper 
carbonates, often leaving the unchanged sulphides only covered 
by a thin film of oxides. 

In the latter case the sulphides are encountered at “water 
level,’’ viz., the level of permanent underground water, varying 
in depth in different localities and covered by a capping of iron 
oxides knoAvn as the iron cap and the “gossan” of the Cornish 
miner. 

The principal ores are the yellow pyrites of copper or chalco- 
pyrite and “peacock copper” or Bornite, as at the Ferris-Haggarty, 
and the Covellite ores of the New Rambler. Some phenomenally 
rich copper glance or chalcolite has been struck, mostly near the 
surface. 

Gold and silver values throughout the district have uniformly 
been low, although some phenomenally rich gold values have been 
noted in the oxidized ores at Purgatory Gulch, the Charter Oak 
and some others, but with' more attention being paid to this by¬ 
product, a higher grade may be anticipated in the future. 

Grand Encampment—This town is the terminus of the Sar¬ 
atoga and Encampment R. R. and the practical center of the 
mining activity of this region. It is pleasantly located, substan-' 
tially built and has about 1,000 population at the present time. 
Here are located the principal supply houses, bank and headquar¬ 
ters of the principal companies operating in this district, and is the 
eastern terminus of the aerial gravity tramwa}^ from the Ferris- 
riaggart}^ mine to the Encampment reduction Avorks, the location 
of the Encampment Power and Light Company’s Avorks and the 
other enterprises OAvned by the Penn-Wyoming Copper Company. 

Aerial Tramway— The tramAvay is sixteen miles in length, 
divided into four sections, Avith three auxiliary power stations, one 
at the mine, one at Lpper Cow Creek at the foot of Bridger Peak 
and one at Lower Coav Creek. These stations are equipped Avith 
power plants, storage bins, etc., to facilitate the operations of the 
line. Three hundred and four toAvers, with tension stations at 
intervals, are used to support the cables, Avhich, moving at an 
average speed of four miles an hour, Avith buckets holding 700 
pounds of ore each, are capable of delivering 984 tons of ore per 
day. 

Encampment Reduction Works— In March, 1906, the old 
concentrator Avas destroyed by fire and the present mill erected 
in its place on a larger scale and greatly improved in every Avay. 
The mill is built in two sections, so that only half the works need 
be idle for repairs at one time and the whole scheme of Avorking is 


24 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


automatic as far as possible, gravity being utilized to aid the sepa¬ 
ration wherever a fall can be obtained. 

The ore from the receiving bins passes through a huge Blake 
crusher to an elevator, thence to revolving screens, the oversize 
passing to roughing rolls and to a conveyor which carries the 
entire mass to the storage bins. From these bins the ore goes to 
two immense Hancock jigs, capacity 700 tons each per day, for 
coarse and fine material, the coarse, oversized ore passing through 
two pairs of grinding rolls, thence to twelve No. 5 Wilhey tables 
for further concentration. A portion goes to regrinding rolls and 
the fine material, or slimes, goes on through the slime department 
for final treatment. 

In March of this year the smelting department was seriously 
crippled by fire soon after the season^s run had commenced, but 
is now being rapidly rebuilt and will soon be again in operation. 

The completion of the Saratoga and Encampment Railroad 
from Walcott to Encampment will do away with the long wagon 
haul of coke and copper and put the.se works in a position to pro¬ 
duce copper at a low figure. 

Battle—Towards Battle the Copper B ock Company is sinking 
on veins of red iron oxides in schists an i quartzite. This same 
condition is noted on the Hidden Treasure and Gertrude proper¬ 
ties, and at intervals shows copper stains both in the capping and 
quartz. 

On the Portland mine, owned by the Battle Lake Copper 
Mining Company, work has been active. Open cuts and shafts 
have been opened along the vein, following it west and down the 
hill to Battle Creek, where a tunnel was started to follow the vein 
east into the mountain. At thirty-five feet from the portal the 
vein was encountered, which at this point shows gold and copper 
ore of workable grade and quantity. The tunnel has since been 
run a distance of over 400 feet. Open cuts and shafts have been 
sunk along the vein for a distance of about 2,000 feet and show 
ore of good grade. Recent rich finds are reported in tunnel cross 
cuts. 

The Cow Creek country along the tramway line is again ac¬ 
tive. South of Battle, the Itmay, Verde and Three Forks work 
is making steady progress on promising showings. 

Doane-Rambler Mine—This mine has been acquired by the 
Penn-Wyoming Copper Company, and will be re-opened at once 
to produce ores for the new smelter at Encampment. A branch 
tramway is to be built from the nearest station and the work com¬ 
pleted as soon as possible. This is the oldest operating mine in 
the district and has a production record for high grade ores, but 
until now no attempt has been made at regular shipments. 

There is a complete mechanical plant at the Doane, the mine 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


25 


being operated through a main tunnel connected with a six hun¬ 
dred foot shaft, drifts being run at intervals and the ore body 
exposed, especially on the 400, 500 and 600-foot levels, 
which have shown large bodies of ore of a concentrating grade. 

Ferris-Haggarty Mine —This is the main producing property 
of the district, lias produced over $1,400,000 since it was opened 
up, and is the main source of ore supply for the Encampment 
smelter. 

The vein is a contact deposit between schist and quartzite, 
showing a series of ore bodies varying in length up to 250 feet and 
in width from fifteen feet to forty feet. The ore is bornite and 
chalcopyrite, and the grade varies from a 35 to 40 per cent, ship¬ 
ping ore to a 6 and 8 per cent, concentrating ore, the latter pre¬ 
dominating. 

Originally the property was worked by shaft and hoist, but 
a working tunnel has been run in at the lowest practicable level 
(giving about 500 feet depth on the dip of the vein) j^md a com¬ 
plete plant installed at the mouth of the tunnel. The ore is 
stoped out by machine drills, thrown into chutes, run to the tun¬ 
nel level and hauled out by compressed air haulage, seven cars to 
a train, and run directly into the tramway ore bins and thence to 
the smelter sixteen miles away. 

A hoist has been installed at the tunnel level and a winze 
sunk below this level, where drifts are being run on the ore and 
an active campaign opened for the production of ore during the 
coming season, which opens about May and closes December 15 
following. 

Dillon Vicinity —Work around Dillon has been very active 
this year, the Anchoria, Jackpot, Independence, Pluto and Osh- 
kosh-Wyoming Companies being especially prominent. The Con¬ 
go property has developed steadily and makes a fine showing. 
The Bachelcjer has improved the plant and shaft. Work has also 
been active on the Oct avia, Home Run and a dozen others. The 
Echo property is especially interesting and promising, as a shaft 
is being sunk on a capping of iron oxides, identical with that of 
the Ferris-Haggarty, but lying with schist foot-wall and quartzite 
hanging wall, where the Haggarty has a quartzite foot-wall and 
schist hanging-wall. 

The Syndicate property on Savery Creek is working on a 
contact between an altered schist and diorite dykes. Considerable 
copper ore of good grade has been taken out. 

In Purgatory Gulch, situated six miles south of Encampment, 
in 1897 some remarkably rich gold specimens were found, and 
formed the basis of the excitement which has developed into the 
Grand Encampment Copper District. 


26 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


The Cox mine, on Big Creek, has produced some remarkable 
high grade copper ore, and several shipments have been made from 
it. 

The Charter Oak is one of the oldest properties in the district, 
and is located seven miles north of Encampment, in the northern 
edge of the foothills. Ores consist of sulphides in lower and ox¬ 
idized in tipper levels. 

This mine has been re-opened and new shafts sunk, the ore 
shown up on the lower levels and a great deal of ore exposed. A 
tunnel is being driven from a point on Calf Creek, on the vein and 
ores for a length of 2,280 feet, and will cut the ores shown in the 
shafts at a depth of 250 feet, making an immense body of ore 
blocked out as soon as the tunnel is completed, at which time a 
reduction works will be built . 

Elk Motintam* 

This is.^the most northerly of the ranges comprising the Med¬ 
icine Bow Range in Wyoming, and is a later uplift than the Sierra 
Madre, on the west side of the Platte. Here the sedimentary lime-' 
stones of the Carboniferous period lie on the schists and granites 
of the earlier formations, and at the Elk Mountain M. & M. Com¬ 
pany’s property, on the north side of Pass Creek, the ore is found 
near the contact of these formations. This ore, in the upper 
workings, is copper glance, occurring in the bunches common to 
this ore, and in the lower workings is giving place to the chalco- 
pyrite, which is becoming more common as depth is reached. 

New Rambler Mine. 

The Great Rambler Mine is owned by the Rambler Mining 
and Smelting Company, is located on the crest of the Medicine 
Bow Range, in Albany County, and was first opened up as a gold 
prospect. In 1900 the first copper was struck at a depth of sixty- 
five feet, and the mine began immediately to ship high grade cop¬ 
per ore. The formation containing the copper is a dioritic gran¬ 
ite, with some micaceous schist in the vicinity, but the ore is found 
in a series of fissures in the granite. In common with the other 
prominent properties in Southern Wyoming, the surface and out¬ 
crops of the property show the usual oxidized forms of iron, with 
an occasional copper stain. The ‘‘iron hat,” as this capping is 
called, extends to a var 3 dng depth and gives place to the various 
forms of copper minerals met with in this mine. The Rambler is 
a veritable museum of copper minerals, and nearly all the known 
forms have been found here either in quantity or as specimens. 
Native copper is noted in sheets often of a dendritic form and as 
small nuggets. Copper carbonates, green and blue, are abundant, 
as well as the silicates of copper. The red oxide of copper, Cu- 


1 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF AVYOMING 27 

prite, and the black oxides, Tenorite and Malaconite, are noted 
in quantity. Covellite, or '‘indigo copper,” is the ore that made 
this mine famous, as this variety has always been a rare form, and 
seldom, if ever, found in the quantity in which it occurs in this 
mine; the only small specimens of this variety are usually found 
in the different museums of minerals. Platinum has been found 
in the Rambler ores, occurring in the Covellite and showing 1.4 
oz. of platinum per ton of ore. Palladium has also been noted in 
these ores in the Covellite ores with the platinum. The grade of 
ore at this property has been high and a number of cars of very 
high grade ore have been shipped, especially that containing the 
glance and Covellite. These shipments show 1,928 dry tons of 
ore shipped, averaging 19 per cent, copper and representing a 
gross value of $77,622. The general grade of the oxidized ores is 
low, and to treat these ores a matte smelter of forty tons per day 
capacity has been installed. The matte made and shipped is 
given as follows: Six hundred and thirteen thousand pounds matte, 
249,196 pounds copper, $36,135.41 values. The grade of matte 
shipped varied from 30 to 60 per cent, copper and the total amount 
of copper produced to date is 828,970 pounds. 

On Iron Creek a huge ledge of iron oxides is noted outcrop¬ 
ping in general as a hard, silicious hematite, but often associated 
with deposits of brown limonite and frequently carrying a small 
copper value. The shaft sunk by the Ak-Sar-Ben Company on 
this material is the deepest working and shows a soft condition 
beneath the capping, followed by sulphides. 

The Strong Mine, northeast of Laramie, has developed stead¬ 
ily. A shaft house and hoist have been erected and the develop¬ 
ment work in the main shafts and drifts on the ore has shown up 
a remarkable body of concentrating ore, 

The Strong shaft has reached a depth of 350 feet and is the 
deepest working in the Laramie Hills. It has conclusively demon¬ 
strated that the ores of this section are not surface ores and the 
bodies opened show that the ore increases in gold values with 
depth, also, that blind shoots are to be expected in these deposits 
and are of equal grade. A plant is to be erected at the Strong and 
made a producer. 

The camp of Silver Crown lies south of the Strong and here 
are a number of good properties ready to produce copper and gold 
as soon as a proper reduction works is erected. The Louise mine 
shows eleven feet of copper ore at 160 feet and four feet of this is 
of smelting grade. 

Sunlight Mining District. 

Sunlight Basin, in Big Horn County, is attracting the atten¬ 
tion of miners and prospectors, and considerable work is being 


I 


28 MINERAL RESOURCES\3F WYOMING 

I 

done around Stinking Water Peak, one of the prominent peaks of 
the Absaroka Range. This region is located about sixty-five miles 
west and north of Cody, on the Burlington and Missouri River 
railroad, in the Yellowstone Park Timber Reserve, and about ten 
or fifteen miles east of the east line of the National Park. 

The formations here are mostly andesites, rhyolites and por- 
ph 3 ^ry. Diorite is also noted in some localities; basalt and con¬ 
glomerates, both in massive sheets and dykes, are found. 

Almost all the prospecting up to the present time has been in 
the vicinity of Stinking Water Peak, in an area of about six or 
Seven miles square, covering the heads of Sulphur, Copper and 
Galena Creeks and the North Fork of the Shoshone River. 

The works of the Sunlight Mining Company, in Silver Tip 
Basin, are the principal works of the region, and consist of three 
tunnels, 100 feet, 250 feet and 900 feet long, respectively, the lat¬ 
ter being the main working tunnel, being run to cut an ore body 
that shows a surface width of about thirty feet of good grade ore. 
The ore from these works is a quartzose vein matter, carrying cop¬ 
per and iron sulphides, mostly chalcopyrite or yellow pyrites of 
copper, with a fair value in gold and silver. Some galena or lead 
sulphide is also found, which is often rich in silver. Shipments 
have been made from this property" and showed a profitable return 
even in the face of a wagon haul of one hundred miles to the nearest 
railroad point at Red Lodge, Montana, after being packed for four 
miles down to the road from the mines. 

On Sulphur Creek work has been steadily pushed by the Wi¬ 
nona Company, and a tunnel and other works begun to reach at a 
considerable depth, ores indicated by promising outcrops along 
the ridges. This and other development works are forging stead¬ 
ily ahead and results are watched with interest by the whole dis¬ 
trict. 

This region is favorably adapted for tunnel methods of min¬ 
ing, and thus prospecting may be carried on at all times and sea¬ 
sons, the winters being no more severe than in many of the mining 
regions of Colorado. 

The new camp of Kirwin, lying seventy-five miles southwest 
of Cody, has made wonderful strides and is advancing at the pres¬ 
ent time. The Galena Ridge M. & M. Company, Shoshone Moun¬ 
tain Mining Company and others have been developing a large 
number of claims here for the past eight years, doing prospecting 
and improvement work where necessary, and have reached the 
point of permanent development. Mechanical plants are installed, 
mills erected and underground development work carried forward 
under favorable auspices. 

The ores are copper and lead, carrying a higher silver and gold 
contents than is usual in this state, and the deeper works have 


MINERAL RJLSOURGES OF WYOMING 


29 


shown that the values may confidently be expected to continue 
and improve with depth. 

Further south, toward Washakie Needle and the Wind River 
Range, are a number of promising prospects and a vast territory 
to hear from. This, with the mountains of these chains in Uinta 
and Fremont Counties, is the most available new and undeveloped 
rnining country in the west, and is certain to be the scene of many 
rich discoveries within the next few year*. 

The finding of high grade copper ores at Copper Mountain, 
Willow Creek, and other points in these ranges within the past 
year is but an indication of what may be expected as soon as ex¬ 
perienced prospectors have an opportunity to thoroughly scour 
the country. 

North of Laramie Peak, in Albany, Laramie and Converse 
Counties, work on a series of heavy iron caps is actively progress¬ 
ing. The formation here is schist and granite, and the principal 
showings are a series of huge oxidized iron caps lying in ledges of 
schists and gneiss and which show copper minerals in nearly every 
instance. These caps are usually immediately underlaid by pyr- 
rhotite and white iron pyrites as depth is gained, and these miner¬ 
als seem to be replaced by quartz and chalcopyrite or yellow py¬ 
rites of copper. 

Prominent properties on these showings are the Maverick, 
Tenderfoot, Three Cripples and Maggie Murphy. 

The Maggie Murphy Company is installing a machinery 
plant for deep work, and the present showings in the main shaft 
are very encouraging. 

The Fsterbrook, wLich is the oldest location in this district, 
is sinking a shaft on the vein of silicious lead carbonate and has 
reached a depth of 335 feet. The showings here indicate that this 
lead cap is underlaid by copper sulphides associated with galena 
or lead sulphides, and the company is now beginning to cross-cut 
and develop its showings at this depth. A reduction plant is be¬ 
ing considered. 

West of the above properties are the Oriole and LaBonte in 
LaBonte Canon. At LaBonte a tunnel has been run for a length 
of 550 feet, at which point the formation was cross-cut, showing a 
schist dyke highly mineralized with a width of 150 feet. A drift 
near the center of this dyke has shown a shoot of low grade of cop¬ 
per ores, and other shoots are expected as this development pro¬ 
ceeds. 

At the Oriole mine development work has shown a low' grade 
copper concentrating proposition, and a mill is expected to be in¬ 
stalled during the coming summer. 

The list of promising prospects might be indefinitely continued 
in every mountain range in the state did space permit, but only 


30 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


the most prominent and best known localities are mentioned, and 
to name all would require a separate publication. 

A series of bulletins on ,the different minerals and mineral 
districts is being prepared and will treat fully the various camps 
and the showings made, as the present writing is but an outline of 
the whole state. 

The total copper production of Wyoming from the earliest 
record to December 31, J906, is as follows, the prices given being 
the average price of copper for the year: 


Year 

Number of Founds 

Price per Pound 

Value 

1882 . 

7,500 

17.100 cents 

S 12,757.50 

1883 . 

962,468 

13.700 cents 

131,858.11 

1888 . 

232,819 

15.900 cents 

36,017.32 

1889 . 

100,000 

12.000 cents 

12,000.00 

1895 . 

6,872 

10.110 cents 

694.07 

1897 . 

127,471 

11.100 cents 

14,149.28 

127,965.28 

1898 . 

233,044 

12.000 cents 

1899 . 

. . . 3,104,827 

17.100 cents 

530,925.39 

1900 .. . 

. . . 4,206,776 

16.250 cents 

683,601.50 

1901.• . 

914,412 

16.110 cents 

140,909.82 

1902 . 

75,297 

11.620 cents 

8,749.51 

1903 . 

947,106 

13.420 cents 

127,101.62 

1904 . 

, . . . 4,220,000 

12.831 cents 

541,046.20 

1905 . 

. . . 2,420,629 

15.590 cents 

355,376.06 

1906 . 

50,000 

19.278 cents 

9,639.00 

Total. . 

, . . . 17,676,721 


$2,632,790.66 


The burning of the Penn-Wyoming Copper Company’s con¬ 
centrator at Encampment in March of 1906, was the cause of the 
copper production of that year being so low, the other shipments 
made being only test shipments from various properties through¬ 
out the state. 


Oil, the Light of Ages 


When it comes to oil, Wyoming certainly bids fair to illumin¬ 
ate and lubricate the works of man for generations. The eighteen 
oil fields known in this state present a greater variety of product 
than any similar known area, as it varies from the highest grade 
of lubricating oils without a trace of illuminating constituents >,to 
an equally high grade of illuminating oil totally free from lubri- 






















MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


31 


cants, and with a range of intermediate oils and products that is a 
revelation to oil men, 

In each of the eighteen oil fields oil is flowing from springs, or 
there are thick bands of oil sand exposed. The greater number 
of these fields are situated in the central part of the state, but 
there are fields in the northeastern portion, in the southwestern 
part, and in the northern central region. The oils that have been 
analyzed vary in nature from high grade lubricating to oils that 
will produce from 40 to 50 per cent, of kerosene. 

With proper facilities for transportation, the oil industry in 
Wyoming will equal, if not surpass, that of any other state. 

The greatest development is found in Natrona County, where 
a lubricating oil is found which has been pronounced by experts 
to be the best in the world; and in Fremont County, where there 
are thirteen flowing wells, now capped for the want of a railroad. 
At Casper there is a refinery having a capacity of 200 barrels of 
crude oil per day. The product is hauled from the wells in wag¬ 
ons that have a carrying capacity of 18,000 pounds, each train of 
wagons requiring twelve to sixteen mules. This greatly adds to 
the expense of production. At present the following oils are man¬ 
ufactured at Casper: Railroad engine, railroad car, railroad valve 
and railroad signal. These oils are the most perfect lubricants, 
of high endurance, highest fire test, and greatest body and wear¬ 
ing power. Besides railroad oils, the refinery manufactures other 
special high grade oils, viz.: Stationary engine, valve, spindle oils, 
dynamo oils, watch oils, neutral oils for blending animal and veg¬ 
etable oils, paint oil, visco axle grease, and heavy machine oil for 
mowing machines. The product of eight producing wells varies 
in value from twenty cents to one dollar and fifty cents per gallon. 

The Bonanza field in Big Horn County, is attracting a great 
deal of attention; five wells recently drilled struck oil at 280 feet. 

The Popo Agie Oil Field—This field is situated ten miles 
southeast of Lander, Fremont County. It covers several town¬ 
ships and extends north to Lander. The history of this field is far 
more interesting than any other oil field. It was discovered by 
Bonneville in 1833, and is the place where the first producing oil 
well was drilled. From the date of Bonneville's visit up to 1867 
the oil spring was unknown, except to the hunter or trapper, who 
frequented the locality to secure the oil for medicinal, lubricating, 
illuminating and other purposes. There are now thirteen flowing 
wells, with a capacity each of 200 barrels per twenty-four hours; 
owned by the Belgo-American Drilling Trust, as are also the lu¬ 
bricating oil wells situated on Salt Creek, with the refinery at 
Casper. The oil appears black, is reddish brown by transmitted 
light and has a strong, disagreeable odor. 

In refining the products are gasoline and kerosene, about 35- 


32 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


45 per cent., and the balance lubricating oils and asphaltum. The 
oil is of heavy asphaltum base and suitable for high grade fuel, 
tests giving 14,571,000 foot pounds of energy per pound of oil. 
One pound of this oil will convert 19.40 pounds of water at 212® 
F. into steam. 

Lander and Shoshone Oil Fields—The Lander field joins the 
Popo Agie on the north, and the Shoshone joins the Lander on the 
north, extending into the Wind River Indian Reservation. Drill¬ 
ing is now going on near Lander for wells to supply the Wyoming 
and Northwestern R. R. with fuel oil from these fields, tests on 
the engines having proven very satisfactory. 

Salt Creek Oil Field—This is the producing field of Wyoming 
mentioned in the beginning of this article and lies fifty miles 
north of Casper in Natrona County. There are fourteen produc¬ 
ing wells, eight of which have been pumped for ten years and show 
as much oil as ever; the average depth of about 800 feet and there 
is considerable gas pressure. 

The oil is the finest natural lubricant known and contains not 
a trace of illuminating oils. 

It has properties as follows: 

Specific gravity.9105 at 60 degrees F. 

Flashing point. 255 degrees F. 

Burning point.. 320 degrees F. 

Congealing point. 17 degrees F. 

Its remarkably low congealing point and high fire test, com¬ 
bined with its great viscosity and freedom from tarry and gum¬ 
ming products render it especially valuable in railroading, and it 
is used on a number of western roads to-day. 

Uinta County Oil Fields—This district includes several fields 
—Bear River Basin, Round Mountain, Fossil, Spring Valley, Twin 
Creek, Carter and Hilliard—and has many natural advantages 
over the other districts on account of its proximity to transporta¬ 
tion, the Union Pacific railroad, and the points of distribution, 
Salt Lake and Ogden. 

The following analysis is a fair representation of the oil from 
several fields in this district: 

Per cent. 

Naptha, 60° F. (gasoline and benzine).27.0 

Water white kerosene, 45° Baume, 145° flash, 172° fire test. . .25.5 

Signal and headlight, 45°Baume, 300° fire test .. 7.0 

Lubricating reduced stock, 23.5° Baume.40.5 


100 









MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


33 


The cold test of the crude oil is 58® F., and the amount of crys¬ 
tallized paraffin that was present in the lubricating stock is 18.5 
per cent. 

The Newcastle Oil Field is located in the vicinity of New¬ 
castle, county seat of Weston County, on the Burlington railroad. 

This petroleum is similar in composition to the Salt Creek oils 
and belongs to the class of heavy oils, and is not suitable for the 
production of gasoline or kerosene, although they can be obtained 
from it. Its chief value will be for lubricating and for fuel pur¬ 
poses. It is, in its natural state, an excellent lubricant, has a high 
gravity and low cold test, a high viscosity and shows no paraffin 
or asphalt. This oil is also well fitted for the manufacture of gas. 

The Newcastle petroleum as represented by the samples taken 
from the pit of Eagle Spring has a specific gravity of .9168 (22.8° 
Baum^). It flashes at 122° C. (251.6° F.) and takes fire at 153 C. 
(307.4° F.). The odor is not disagreeable, and for many purposes 
it could be sold as a lubricating oil in a crude state. No paraffin 
crystallizes out on cooling and little or no asphalt is left on dis¬ 
tilling. The viscosity at 60° F. is 29.43, using Engler’s viscosi¬ 
meter and compared with the viscosity of water. 

The Bonanza Oil Field and the Cottonwood Oil Field are in 
close proximity to each other in Big Horn County, near the No 
Wood River, a tributary of the Big Horn. Active development 
work is now being carried on in this district, a very fine grade of 
oil having been found. 

Analysis of Bonanza Oil—Specific gravity, .8446 (36° Baume). 
Color: Red; strong green fluorescence. Odor: Like Kerosene. 
Flashing point: 13° C. (55° F.). Burning point: 35° C. (95° F.). 

This petroleum will work up into the following products: 

Gasoline.20 to 25 per cent. 

Kerosene.55 to 60 per cent. 

Light lubricating oil. 5 to 10 per cent. 

Paraffin. 2 to 4 per cent. 

Coke and loss.. 4 to 6 per cent. 

The Dottglas Oil Field is situated a short distance south of 
Douglas, county seat of Converse County, elevation 5,000 feet. 
The quality of the crude oil in this section is exceptional and will 
work up into remarkable lubricating oils. 

‘The Oil Mountain Field is situated twenty-five miles west of 
Casper, Natrona County. This petroleum is principally valuable 
for lubricating purposes, although the most of it could be worked 
up into kerosene for open lamps, such .as miners use. 

The Dutton Oil Field is situated partly in Fremont County 


2 — 







34 


MINERAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING 


and partly in Natrona County. Many oil springs are found here 
and natural gas is quite abundant. There is practically no devel¬ 
opment in this district. The oil has a gravity of .927 (21° B.). 

The Belle Fourche Oil Field is situated about fifteen miles 
north of Moorcroft, on the Burlington railroad, in Crook County. 
In the early history of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, 
needing lubricating oil for the machinery, men were employed in 
this field in collecting oil from the springs, which was transported 
by wagon to Deadwood and there sold for $28 per barrel. 

The Powder River Oil Field is located on the South Fork of 
Powder River, sixty miles northwest of Casper, county seat of 
Natrona County; fifty miles south of Buffalo, county seat of John¬ 
son County. There are many oil springs in this field. This is one 
of the best fields in Wyoming; the structural features are ideal. 
This petroleum is heavy and black; the odor is slight, resembling 
common kerosene, and in general character is similar to Salt Creek 
oil and the Popo Agie oiL 

The Rattlesnake and Arago Oil Fields are on the northeast 
slope of the Rattlesnake Mountains in Natrona County. Here is 
found asphaltum in sufficient quantities for commercial import¬ 
ance, if it were not for the lack of transportation. 

Development—The successful and profitable development 
of many of the oil fields depends largely upon the construction of 
new railway lines—an investment fully warranted by this resource 
—but there are a great many opportunities presented in many of 
the fields which are adjacent to present railway lines for profitable 
and highly remunerative development. 

In noting the different oil fields of the state, only a condensed 
statement of each has been here given, as it is the intention to issue 
a separate bulletin on the oil fields of Wyoming in the near future 
and give therein all available information. 









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